Former Swansboro standout Carrie Dail Maxwell making a name in coaching

Chris Miller Daily News Staff jdnsports

Thursday

Mar 7, 2019 at 10:00 AMMar 7, 2019 at 10:11 AM

As an all-state player, she helped Pirates win state titles in 2006 and 2009

SWANSBORO — Carrie Dail Maxwell was in full coaching mode.

The Hickory Ridge girls’ soccer coach could be seen laying out cones on the field during what was a rainy evening to help her team warm up for a recent match at Swansboro.

It was time to get serious, and the 28-year-old Maxwell was all business as she readied to go up against her alma mater.

“I did think that one day I would be a high school coach, and that’s one reason I wanted to get into teaching so I could get into coaching,” she said. “But never did I ever think I would be coaching on this side of the field at Swansboro.”

The Hickory Ridge-Swansboro contest, which finished as a 1-1 rain-shortened tie, wasn’t the first time Maxwell returned to Swansboro to play against the Pirates.

In fact, this year marked the third time the third-year head coach brought her squad to her home town. Maxwell is 1-0-2 against the Pirates, although she said she doesn’t bring that up with coach Doug Kidd.

“He’s a fantastic coach and I would never hang anything over his head,” she said.

But Maxwell did embrace being back home. She said coaching from the opposing side of the pitch still feels weird to her now. Yet, every visit is still special.

“My first game as a head coach was when we came here … and that was probably the most emotional I’ve ever been for any game,” Maxwell said. “Now, I’ve done it a couple of times, it’s still an awesome feeling.

“And I get to take these folks here and they get to see where I came from and it helps them understand who I am a little better.”

It’s also special for Kidd, who recalled interviewing Maxwell as a senior before he took over the Swansboro program in the summer of 2008.

“Carrie was very helpful in me making a decision to come down here to Swansboro,” he said.

A little over 10 years later, Kidd now finds one of his standout pupils as a coaching counterpart.

“I’m very proud that she shares her knowledge with high school kids,” Kidd said. “She has experienced a lot of great things and she can share that to help her players. It’s a lot of fun to see her go in that direction and for them to also come down here and have our teams face off.”

Maxwell was an all-state player at Swansboro who helped the Pirates win state titles in 2006 and 2009. She also played at Charlotte for four years before playing professionally in Sweden for two.

Maxwell became a teaching fellow while at Charlotte. She performed her fellowship at Hickory Ridge in Cabarrus County.

“Then when I was about to graduate, I had a job opportunity there, but I wanted to play soccer for a little bit,” Maxwell said. “I was nervous I wouldn’t get another chance at Hickory Ridge because it’s such a great school. But it was open when I was done playing and I moved back in.”

Maxwell now teaches Civics, Economics and Holocaust and Genocide.

As the school’s soccer coach, she is 32-12-5, having led the Ragin’ Bulls to a third-round playoff appearance in 2017 and a second-round trip last season.

Maxwell said he has high expectations for her team. Winning is important to the coach, but it’s not the ultimate goal she wants her players to achieve, she added.

“If you work as hard as you can and play smart, there’s nothing I’ll be upset about,” Maxwell said. “If we lose every game, we don’t want to do that, but I’m OK with it as long as we work hard.”

Maxwell also uses her Swansboro experience as a tool to teach her players.

She recalled the Pirates winning the state championship in 2006, but losing in the second round the following year, despite returning several key players. And Maxwell also brings up Swansboro winning it all again in 2009.

“My senior year, we didn’t have the same talent, but we had a fantastic coach and we won because of Coach Kidd,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell said she did pick up coaching lessons from Kidd as well as her other coaches. But through it all, she wanted to be her own coach and find out herself which coaching tactics worked for her.

“Coach Kidd showed me a lot about organization and tactical things,” Maxwell said. “But between all of my coaches, I’ve learned so much. I think soccer is one thing where there’s no wrong way to do it.”

But like Maxwell said, her key focus is for her players to play hard. She also wants her team to be close. Maxwell recalled having strong relationships with her Swansboro teammates.

“Any team I’ve been on that’s been successful, we were real teammates all of the time,” she said. “REAL stands for Respect, Effort, Attitude and Loyalty. All those core values have been on all of the successful teams I’ve been on.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at chris.miller@jdnews.com or by calling 910-219-8472. Follow him on twitter @jdnsports. For digital subscription information, click here.

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